Fox on the Wind
by Tw1n Rabb1t
Summary: Naruto has always known he was different from other kids. Not because of the glaring hate directed towards him by most of the adults, but because he knows it's not normal to hear a disembodied voice that sounds like it belonged to a monster and seems to have a bone to pick with the dead fourth Hokage in his head, or reverse engineer ninja techniques he's only seen once.


**Soooo I wrote a genius!Naruto story with an earlier-involved Kurama (who actually won't be making an appearance for a while yet), even though I haven't done anything significant for Navigating Gypsy for almost a year...whoops. I had originally planned on posting this and several other stories I'v scratched out when I updated that, but...**

 **Yeah. So, please, enjoy, and hopefully the death threats are kept to a minimum? None of the stories I'm going to be posting over the next few days are going to be updated for a while at least (on account of junior year in HS trying to kill us with work), but I'm tired of these just sitting in my files.**

 **Also has been posted on my fanfiction tumblr page, the-tw1nned-rabb1t.**

* * *

Naruto crouched behind the bushes, gently moving a cluster of leaves out of the way so that he could better see the Jounin evaluate his newly appointed genin team. He ignored the twigs and rocks digging into his stomach with the minute movement, instead focusing on the katas the three beginning ninja were moving through.

Naruto knew that they had already passed the second genin exam (or the test-that-he-wasn't-supposed-to-know-about) yesterday, and that now their real ninja education would being. Last time the blond had tried to watch a fresh genin team train - about a year ago, when the previous batch had graduated - he'd been spotted by the sensei and promptly hauled off back to the village by the scruff of his neck before he could learn anything.

He hadn't tried to spy on them or the other groups again, since the teacher would be on the look out for him, and the other graduating groups would have no doubt been informed of his interloping. By the time they would have dropped their guard again, Naruto wouldn't have been able to safely watch and not give himself away without a stray jutsu or shuriken finding him, so he didn't bother.

Because of that, he'd never gotten to learn anything more than some basic taijutsu stances and a handful of tricks with shuriken and kunai, which he mostly already knew from previous spying expeditions on Academy classes and even some the clans with looser security. Heck, it was only during expeditions with anyone higher than Chuunin that Naruto got caught, much to his annoyance.

This time he wouldn't get caught, though. The blond kept track of which teams passed the second exam by listening in on the Hokage's meeting, and had followed one of them until he'd overheard which training ground they were going to use the next day. He purposefully picked out a spot to lay in wait that was on the periphery of said training ground, and even took liberty to arrive an hour before dawn. The genin hadn't noticed him, and the Jounin didn't even glance in his direction, too busy with his excited charges. Nobody would know he was there, unless he did something stupid - like stepped on a branch.

 _Well_ , the boy supposed, watching the Jounin adjust one of his student's stances, _nobody but those masked guys will know I was here._

Naruto had noticed his masked, mute, and cloaked guards that seemed to follow him around the village twenty-four/seven ages ago. He was far more observant than many of the adults gave him credit for, but it wasn't like he had to look very hard; they usually came out when he was in trouble, and he was in trouble a lot. It wasn't like he went looking for it though, despite what it might seem like to others.

People typically didn't even give Naruto the time of day, so he had to nudge and pester and nag and be a flat out nuisance to get people to look at him, and even then it was that cold, cold glare that screamed annoyance and loathsome feelings that he couldn't make heads or tails of. He was five - what could he have possibly done to them to make them look at him like that?

Besides the pranks and fights he got into on an almost daily basis that incurred a more heated sort of glower, he could think of absolutely nothing that would leave him the target of such uniform hate within his own village - a hate that was absolutely _ruining_ his chances of making friends with kids his own age.

Naruto lamented over that, hand unconsciously tightening in the dirt beneath him, fingers drawing small grooves in their wake. It was no fair. He didn't have a chance to even talk to the kids who ran around the playground and park without their mothers swooping in and grabbing them by the hand leaving him alone. Again.

He absolutely hated it, the isolation, the hatred nobody had ever bothered to explain to him, how victimized he felt because of it. He was so so so sick of it. For all his Jiji was there for him, he could only relate so much to a little boy with his entire village against him.

And that wasn't even all of it. Prices jacked up enough to make a daimyo cringe, entire establishments banning him from entering the premises. Even basic public amenities like the bath house and the Hokage Tower were limited with him, and the only reason he probably hadn't been flat out denied access was because the masked guys reported everything he did and that was done back to him to the Hokage.

A sliver of guilt wormed its way to the forefront of his mind. The masked guys - whose names seemed to be the same as the animal likeness of their masks - had always stepped in for him when either the villagers or his loud mouth had taken things too far, bringing him to his apartment or the old man's office to cool his head. The old man was the one person Naruto knew actually cared for him, and whenever he sat across from him for getting in trouble, the blond could never quite keep the shame he felt from showing on his face. It was usually the same with his guards, too.

They never spoke or gave much (if any) indication of emotion, but for some reason, Naruto never felt as though they were judging him by the same scale as the rest of Konoha. They followed his grandfather figure's orders without visible complaint, stood up for him and watched his back, and the young blond was grateful for it, even if it was just the Hokage looking out for him.

The corners of Naruto's lips tilted down fractionally - he was only half listening to his inner musings and half watching the genin. He was grateful and all, but….but he didn't want to have to have them intervene for him every time one of the adults threatened him or made to physically remove him from their store. They already left him alone to deal with the kids in his age group - the ones that weren't carted away by their parents for talking to him, that is - and he didn't want to trouble them or Jiji with it for longer than he absolutely had to.

Besides, he had a plan. His peers followed their parent's way of doing things; their hate of him, if it could really be called that, was weak and would become an easily broken typecast once he showed them all his awesome skills as a shinobi, the stigma of whatever he did wrong faded like smoke. He could and would change everyone's opinion of him, even if it took months and months and years and years to do so.

A triumphant little grin replaced the blond's frown, and he almost let out a gleeful laugh despite himself. It would be completely worth it, every drop of blood sweat and tears, if it meant he wasn't going to be stuck in such a cold and lonely place anymore.

But for that to work, he'd have to at least be able to convince the Hokage that he was too old for his guards, and show that he could defend himself just as well against civilians.

Carefully watching and memorizing every flick of the wrist and twist of the arm, Naruto's blue eyes took in as many details of the genin's training session as they could before the group moved away from weapons practice. The Jounin called the three of them from their respective targets and in towards the center of the clearing, and Naruto noted ruefully that he was too far away to hear what the instructor was telling them.

The blond's eyebrows scrunched together, and he almost soundlessly leaned forward to try and catch what the older ninja was doing. It looked like a hand seal - just the one ram not followed by anything else. He barely had time to raise a suspicious brow and ponder what it could be before the Jounin suddenly vanished in a body flicker and Naruto was being pulled out of his hiding spot by the back of his shirt.

He landed roughly at the man's feet, leaves and twigs sticking to his grass and dirt stained shirt and hair as he sheepishly looked up to the scowling ninja. _Crap_.

" _What_ , exactly, are you doing here, brat?" The Jounin growled frigidly and unfriendly. Ah. It was those eyes he hated so much and the tone of voice that usually accompanied it.

Naruto's mind immediately went on the defensive as he nervously got to his feet, feeling the eyes of the nearby genin drilling into his back as cushions as they were frosty. "I was jus' wa'chin' - 's not like a buncha green genin 're dangerous to wa'ch 'rain or nothin'."

"Perhaps not," the ninja countered, arms crossed down at him. "But the training grounds are off limits to civilians, _especially_ kids your age."

Naruto glared at the man, undaunted by the height and power difference. "Hey! I start th' 'cademy nex' year! I ain't no civvie!"

"Until you have a forehead protector, you will be a civilian in the eyes of the village." The Jounin said tersely, eyeing an area above and behind the blond boy and stiffening. Turning to face the same way, Naruto saw one of his masked guards standing halfway behind a tree, some thirty feet away.

The young boy blinked. He could actually recognize this one, since it was one of maybe three he'd had that didn't wear obscuring black cloaks on top of the masks and uniform armor. And this masked guy, with spiky silver hair and a dog mask, was the one who - along with a pat on the head - gave him a cool sleeping cap for his last birthday. On top of that, he seemed to be the one who stepped in for him the most, brought him home most often from a prank, and the one who, oddly enough, both villagers and shinobi alike edged around like he would run them through with his tanto at a moment's notice.

Naruto didn't quite know why that was, but he was glad for the man's presence nonetheless, if only because it caused the Jounin to take his eyes off him for a fraction of a second too long and give the blond plenty of time to wiggle out a few homemade smoke bombs, which he immediately put to use.

"Wha-" The shinobi exclaimed, cut off by a sudden coughing fit. The young boy gave a cry of giddy triumph, sticking out his tongue as he ran like hell from the older ninja as the man uselessly tried fan away the bright smoke.

"I ain't no civie, baka!" Naruto yelled over his shoulder as his feet thundered along the grass patched ground, weaving between shrubs and trees alike. "M'gonna be th' nex' Hokage, dattebayo!"

"UZUMAKI!" The Jounin shouted furiously, and the blond gulped before doubling his speed back to the village. If he was caught, he'd be dragged straight to the old man's office. He definitely did not want to go there right now, since he'd _finally_ managed to get the library people to let him check out the books.

A surge of excitement coursed through the boy, his blue eyes sparkling. He didn't know what he'd look up first, but he'd overheard lots of different people telling kids that if they wanted to learn something then they should go to the library - ninja included. There were probably lots of cool ninjutsu and secret techniques for him to unearth. He'd probably learn how to shoot giant fireballs and summon massive battle animals by the end of the day if he found the right scrolls!

Not to mention today was the day he got to see Jiji anyway and tell him how his week had been. The blond would absolutely love to see the look on the old man's face when Naruto eventually figured out how to flash places like other ninja, and show off his impressive jutsu.

With that thought in mind, Naruto filed the encounter with the Jounin and masked guy away for later, blazing down the streets of Konoha in a streak of blond and blue eyes.

* * *

"Jiji this book's broke!"

Hiruzen looked up from his scroll, eyes immediately drawn to the shock of yellow on his office sofa. He had been pleasantly surprised when Naruto had made his usual exuberant entrance into his office for their weekly meeting an hour ago and the boy had all but shoved a book in his face. It had certainly made the irate report of the boy supposedly 'interfering' with a genie squad's morning training float to the back of his mind.

The Hokage thought the boy had no interest in books, and was curious as to why the blond had had a sudden change of heart. That was until Naruto proudly told him that he'd finally managed to get the librarians to let him look at and check out books. Hiruzen had given the blond an indulgent chuckle and a pat on the head before beginning his usual questions, but internally he frowned.

He was proud that the boy had managed to patiently out wait that continuous rejection from the library workers, but it was that same rejection from the rest of Konoha as a whole that left a tired hollowness in the Hokage's chest.

A boy Naruto's age shouldn't have to deal with that, especially since he did nothing wrong. But, too many people had died in the attack five years ago for Hiruzen keep things entirely silent, and too many enemies hated the boy's parents from the last war to be entirely forthcoming. It was just one of the dozens of reasons there was an ANBU detail assigned just to Naruto.

"Oh? How so?" The old ninja asked as the young boy silently fumed at the copy in his hands. Perhaps they gave him a vandalized one, Hiruzen thought resignedly, sighing as it meant he would have to send someone to 'talk' with the librarians about treating his surrogate grandson fairly.

"It jus' is!" Naruto insisted, slamming the covers back together and tossing the book onto the table in front of him.

The Hokage sighed. He extended a hand towards the blond. "Let me see it, Naruto."

The boy obliged, silently padding across the office and giving Hiruzen the supposedly broken book. Flipping through the pages, he didn't see anything wrong with it. In fact, it was in rather good condition for a book on weapons in a ninja village.

"It seems fine to me. What do you think is wrong with it?"

"'s no' showin' me how ta do an'thin'! 's jus' a buncha weird scribbles." Naruto grumbled. Hiruzen froze.

"'Weird scribbles'?" He echoed, a sinking feeling present in his gut as the blond nodded. He leaned toward until he was eye level with the five year old jinchuuriki. "Naruto, I want you to be honest with me; what do your caregivers at the orphanage do at learning time?"

Naruto placed a hand on his chin pensively, eyes squinted in concentration. "Hmm...t'ey jus' give me ol' colorin' books ta work in. I ge' scolded or sent ta my room if I ask a question or try an' see what the other kids 're doing though. But, but, I don't think they 'ave colorin' books too, Jiji."

Hiruzen took a deep breath, and then let it out once again as a sigh.

God, he needed to smoke. But he wouldn't, not in front of Naruto while he was so young; he'd done it around his own boys despite his wife's protests, and now Asuma was an incurable chain smoker. That, however, didn't change the fact that he was too old for this. His own mangled relationship with said son was amongst one of the reasons he had foregone outright adopting the blond before him.

But he still needed to do something to correct this mistake, preferably before it became something more problematic and potentially debilitating.

"How about I get you a tutor, Naruto? Someone who can tell you what this book says."

The boys eyes widened. "Really? They'll tell me wha' th' book says?"

The Hokage smiled, feeling some of his earlier weariness fade at the genuine happiness on the boy's face. "Even better - they'll teach you what other books say as well."

"Awesome! But…" Naruto came up short, as though he had just remembered something both important and unpleasant. A look of hesitancy that was far too sharp for a child's face overcame his features. "...will they wanna teach me?"

Hiruzen internally swore up a storm against the ignorant ways of his village. Their biased choice of completely shutting out Naruto from their lives had its effect on the boy. He could almost be considered bipolar, cheerful and exuberant one moment and then cautious and withdrawn the next, all because he didn't know where he stood with the villagers.

What was worse, the civilians were within the laws the Hokage had set up regarding his surrogate grandson. And the library and Kami knew how many other places had found loopholes regarding the boy. Without some drastic changes to how things were done, the situation could not be changed.

The old fire shadow resisted the urge to scrub a hand over his face, instead reaching to place his unlit pipe between his teeth. Had he ever second guessed his choices regarding Naruto?

Yes. At least five times a day, seven days a week.

He could have kept the boy's burden a secret. Told only his closest advisors and higher ranking shinobi about it. Could have ordered Jiraiya to take his godson and raise him like Minato would have wanted. Could have let a clan adopt him. Could have taken Naruto on himself.

But he had always believed in being honest to the civilians. They made up the greater majority of Konoha's population, and they kept most ninja financially secure with how many D-ranked missions they accounted for when higher ranking (and higher paying) jobs were scarce. And had he gone along with any of those plans, it might have actually been worse for Naruto with how things had been.

He didn't trust Danzo as far as he could throw a kunai to not leak the information, and then when word eventually got out, he'd have had riots of angry and distrustful civilians on his case.

Letting Jiraiya take him would basically be like sending a message along the lines of ' _hey! Infant son of dead Hokage and a burdened Sanin out of their village! Please send assassins!_ ' to places like Iwa and Kumo who personally hated Minato and wanted to see anything related to him destroyed.

And if Hiruzen or a clan had taken custody, they ran the risk of being accused of making a power grab by the others and Naruto would suddenly find himself growing as a thing and not a person in the ensuing custody battles and clan skirmishes, a prize in a resulting civil war.

It was far too late to change most of the laws for Naruto's benefit anyway, since the general population was doing all they could to forget about him. There could be mayhem on his hands if he made it so they had to look at and acknowledge the jinchuuriki. Forcing people to do things they rather wouldn't never did end well.

The boy deserved so much more than the current injustices the village dished to him on a daily basis, and Hiruzen was going to make sure that one of those slights were not illiteracy.

"Yes, I'll make sure they want to teach you before giving them the job." He told the blond jinchuuriki, ruffling the boy's hair and watching as the overly nervous look on Naruto's face was replaced with exasperation. Hiruzen smirked. "Now, I believe that you've played hookie from your caretakers long enough. Off you go, before you miss lunch."

"Fine," Naruto pouted, but took back his book before scampering to the office door. "I'll 'ave a teacher by nex' week, Jiji?"

"Most definitely."

Naruto gave his signature toothy grin. "Ok! I'll see ya nex' week t'en too, Jiji!"

Hiruzen watched as the door to his office shut behind the boy before reaching into a drawer of his desk and taking out several leaves tobacco for the smoke he so desperately craved, using a small sealless and commandless fire jutsu to light it. He really was too old for this sort of thing.

However, he wasn't so new at being the Hokage to bemoan his over abundance of paperwork and responsibility to a five-year-old he had no business raising. His decades of working as an active shinobi had long since drilled out any reaction to insignificant, non-life-threatening activities.

"Cat." He stated to his empty office, and without pause a female ANBU with a cat mask stood before him in salute. "Please inform the clans and any off duty ninja Chuunin or above that I would very much appreciate it if one of them volunteered to tutor Naruto. I would prefer a Nara, but I'll take what I can get."

"It will be done, Hokage-sama." Cat replied, exiting the room in a flash of smokeless shunshin.

Hiruzen stared at the empty space for a second more before reclining in his seat, determined to enjoy what little peace his pipe could provide before he received irate letters from different clan heads for being bothered by such a 'trivial' request.

Tugging down the edge of his hat, the Hokage deemed it would be better for him to clear the next hour of meetings in case the Uchiha or Hyuuga in particular did not appreciate his plight.

* * *

"Jiji, who's he?" Naruto asked, cocking his head to the side to stare at the teen next to the old man's desk. He was probably a good ten years older than the blond, with his hair in a spiked ponytail and a scar across the bridge of his nose and along his cheekbones. He looked as unsure of his place there as Naruto was.

" _This_ , is Umino Iruka." Hiruzen replied, hands folded on the desk in front of him. "He is a Chuunin who is looking for a job teaching in the Academy within the next few years. He's agreed to be your tutor until I am satisfied with the results."

The blond looked at the teen again, this time searching more closely for any signs that the Chuunin was like the other villagers. To Naruto's astonishment, there wasn't any coldness in the teen's eyes - just clear nervousness that bordered on anxiety and...was that curiosity? Huh; he'd never seen that look directed at him before.

 _But_ , just because this guy didn't seem hostile and his Jiji claimed the guy was ok _didn't_ mean he was going to let his guard down. Or that was his plan, until he caught the fact that his surrogate grandpa had gotten an _actual ninja_ to privately tutor him.

The teen blinked as the boy's face suddenly split into a sunny grin. He had exactly zero warning as he out of the blue found a five year old throwing himself against Iruka's stomach with enough force to make him take half a step back, questions flying out of the boy's mouth a mile a minute.

"Are ya really a ninja? How'd ya get tha' scar? Why'd'ya wanna teach in the 'cademy?" Naruto asked as his new tutor to the Hokage for help.

Hiruzen gave a smile before interjecting, "Naruto, why don't you take Iruka to the library for your first session? I'm sure he'll answer your questions there."

"A'right, old man. C'mon, lets go." The blond grabbed the Chuunin by the arm and towards the door, ignoring the teen's reaction to the way he addressed the village leader and the way Hiruzen chuckled after them.

Naruto managed to keep his grip on Iruka's wrist until the teen, awkward under the looks he was getting fromt the rest of the village, finally asked the child to let go halfway to the library. The boy had looked at him for several seconds before complying and continuing on their way in silence, making Iruka feel even more self-conscious.

He'd accepted this position as the blond's tutor with a bit of reluctance, seeing as the boy actively housed the beast that had killed his parents some five, almost six years ago, and he'd heard rumors of the kid being a prankster. Iruka, of course, knew what that was about - without his parents around, he'd done the same thing in class during his Academy days.

While being an Academy teacher had never quite been his goal after becoming a shinobi, his injury on a mission two months ago and the permanent damage it did to his chakra control in one arm - and not long after he'd made Chuunin, too - made the job seem more and more appealing. So here he was, tutoring a five year old pariah as an official C-rank mission from the Hokage as a means of practice.

He was, unlike the vast majority of his peers, neutral towards Naruto- well, neutral enough that the Hokage had easily warmed him up to the idea. While he hated the fox for taking his parents from him, the Kyuubi was most definitely _not_ a little boy, and whatever genius seal the Fourth had used was holding better than many suspected. With that being said, the blond was extremely suspicious of the people around him, Iruka included despite the excitement over him being a ninja. It made the scarred teen want to sigh.

He supposed he could probably work on that as well as proper enunciation during their sessions, since he didn't think there would be much he would have to teach a five year old. He'd only brought a couple of scrolls with basic mathematics and one or two blank ones for writing. What exactly the Hokage was playing at was a mystery to him, but who was he to disobey; the ninja motto was always better safe then sorry.

"Hey, we're 'ere. Wha'cha spacin' out for?" Naruto's voice brought Iruka out of his musings, and he looked up to see that they were indeed standing in front of the Konoha library. He smiled sheepishly then cleared his throat.

"So we are. Lets go find a table then, shall we?"

Naruto blinked before nodding, following two steps behind his new teacher. The librarian at the desk scowled as they passed and several people at nearby tables even flat out picked up and left when they made clear that the blond and ninja were staying.

Seating himself across from the boy, Iruka cleared his throat again. "Right, so Lord Third might have introduced me already, but I'll do it again. My name is Umino Iruka, and I am a Chuunin of Konoha."

The Chuunin took it as a good sign when his new student grinned. "'M Uzumaki Naruto -ttebayo! Th' nex' Hokage! Jiji said you'd help m' know wha' books say!"

Iruka felt his smile begin to falter, even though he kept his tone of voice cheerful. He took back that statement about there not being much to teach the five year old. Pushing aside his sudden distaste for the orphanage caretakers, the Chuunin focused on the challenge before him, bringing out one of the blank scrolls and an ink and brush set.

"That's right, Naruto. Now, which book should we start with?"

* * *

"An' _then_ Iruka-sensei checked it an' it turned out I _was_ righ' an' he treated me ta ramen!" Naruto grinned as he chatted off Hiruzen's ear, much to the old man's amusement.

His surrogate grandson had been receiving tutoring from Iruka every other day for the past month, and the old ninja was thus so far pleased with the results. While there had been a marked improvement in the blond's ability to read and recognize symbols, it also seemed he had inherited his parent's ability to understand complicated formulas in sealing with enviable ease.

Currently, Naruto was telling him about how he correctly remembered the first half of the formula for an explosive tag, before Iruka disagreed and they had to check from a book.

Hiruzen originally hadn't thought of allowing Iruka to help Naruto with his ninja studies as well since the blond was so young, but neither of them had seen a reason to say no to such a brightly smiling child, and so the Hokage gave the Chuunin the ok to go over some of the theory as well. Sarutobi had personally signed the forms that sent children Naruto's age out into active combat, so his only reason to hold the boy back was his own selfishness.

Of course, when Iruka and Naruto had started on fuuinjutsu - the sealing arts being the most theory based area around and something touched on in shinobi schooling at one time or another - Iruka had been slack-jawed and Sarutobi pleasantly surprised when it seemed Naruto could read the mess of calligraphy and formula just as easily if not better than the practice books Iruka set him on.

Granted, it hadn't been anything more complicated than tags and storage seals, but it usually took fully qualified shinobi much more than five minutes (minus the pauses where Iruka had to explain a word) to understand all the components and properly remake them and have them work like they're supposed to on the first try.

Maybe Hiruzen should think about giving him his clan books left by Kushina, since her son would obviously find use for and enjoy them, plus, they were his by birthright, along with his father's notes and their savings. The books and everything else would be legally his by the time he turned eighteen anyway, so he might as well.

The Sandaime took his unlit pipe from his mouth, reaching with his other hand to ruffle Naruto's hair. He looked over to the Chuunin standing on the opposite side of his desk. "I'll be needing your first report on his progress submitted by the end of the day, Iruka-kun."

The scarred teen nodded. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Jiji, what're ya an' Iruka-sensei talkin' 'bout?" Naruto asked, regarding the older ninja curiously after bidding his teacher a farewell for the day.

"Every month, Iruka has to send me a report of what you managed to learn under his tutelage. It's something all ninja must do for their jobs, so that their actions are properly kept track of." Sarutobi explained.

"Ohhh….bu' Hokage-jiji, wouldn't it jus' be easier for me ta jus' show ya wha' I learned?"

The Hokage chuckled. "I suppose, but your teacher would still have to give me the proper paperwork, otherwise he wouldn't get his pay check."

"A'right! Prepare ta be amazed, dattebayo!" The blond boy yelled, throwing one hand into the ram seal and teleporting all the way to the doorway of the office in a swirl of leaves, his signature toothy grin nearly cleaving his face in half.

Hiruzen had to admit, he was _not_ prepared for this new development. The five year old had just executed a type of smokeless shunshin that was popular among Konoha Jounin and higher level Chuunin. Iruka himself, for all his hard work and training, wasn't at the level to perform it or teach it, not that he'd have taught the blond any jutsu without first getting permission from the Hokage.

Sarutobi would have assumed that another shinobi had shown Naruto - it was a Hidden Village, after all - but it was well known that the majority of Konoha's armed forces were barely better to the jinchuuriki then the rest of the village. Only a handful would take the time to do something like that, and most them were out on active duty.

So that left the question of where the young Uzumaki had picked up this little trick.

"Hehehe...I rendered ya speechless -ttebayo!" Naruto said with all the childish smugness and pride his five year old self could muster, his whisker birthmarks and always present mischievous gleam making it look more foxy than anything.

"...Indeed you did. Naruto, would you mind telling me when you learned the shunshin? You're not in trouble; I'm just curious."

" _Well_ , 'bout a month ago - the week 'fore ya got Iruka-sensei ta teach me, I think - I was spyin' on the new genin teams an' the Jounin instructor put his hand like this-" the boy put his hand into another -unnecessary for that jutsu- ram seal, "-an' then he was pullin' me from the bushes and scoldin' me for bein' there. After Iruka-sensei taught me how ta mold some chakra, I tried doin' it m'self. It took a while, an' I got these weird burns that healed quick and I kept makin' too much smoke, but I did it!"

"That you did Naruto. You did better than most Chuunin can claim." Hiruzen watched as the blond positively _glowed_ under the praise. He would have to summon Iruka again to his office later and address this new development, but for now it was getting late. "Now, I do believe dinner will be served in the orphanage in an hour. Wouldn't want it to get cold, would we?"

Naruto pouted, but acquiesced. With a final grin and wave good bye, the Hokage was left to his usual quiet office. Sarutobi sighed, one of the leaves from the five year old's jutsu on his desk shifting as the air disturbed it. His hand was moving for the drawer of his desk almost before he realized.

He couldn't light his pipe fast enough.


End file.
